A post on a local blog has perhaps generated more attention than the author intended.

Last week, Barrow County commission chairman Danny Yearwood requested the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security investigate the person responsible for the comment.

Yearwood made the request last Friday after filing a report with the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office.

The comment, posted August 6 on the Barrow County Citizen’s Watch “Watcher’s Blog,” was in response to a rumor that Yearwood had proposed closing one of Barrow County’s six fire stations as a cost cutting measure.

The post was titled “Mr. Yearwood” and was authored by an individual using the screen name “Mad as Hell.”

The message read; “I hope and pray that your home catches on fire or you have a heart attack or even better someone breaks into your home and holds your family at gun point. Then and only then will you ever value public safety.”

For more on this story, see the August 11 edition of the Barrow Journal or click hereto read the full story online when you subscribe to our new e-edition.

If that comment (even though it said, "I hope ...") was directed at me or my family I would consider it a threat & be contacting the law to check on it. With Mr. Yearwood being a public figure - popular or not - he is a target for criticism but not threats.

I am wondering where the line is drawn between a comment taken as a threat that is punishable by law vs. a person stating their opinion in the heat of the moment? I personally do not see a threat being made towards anyone by that bloggers comment.

I hope he get the info he is looking for!!!!!! It’s about time these people who post things that are hurtful, disrespectful, untrue or for just plain out meanness get what’s coming to them and I hope there will be more to follow!!!!
Everyone knows they only post these things not to vent but because they are JEALOUS or… well I would say “uneducated people” but some of those people who are suppose to be “educated” also believe everything they are told without investigating it for themselves.
FYI: There is a difference in “venting” and “lying & meanness”! Anyone with the least bit of common since can tell the difference.

Obviously, you don't know the difference between being "mean" and unlawful. Since Yearwood is a public official, the standard for libel/defamation is high. Very high. He'd have to prove actual malice, defined as a reckless disregard for the truth. In the instant case, he'd have to show there was a genuine threat in order for criminal investigation to be warranted. Ignorant people are always threatening to sue for slander or crying to the cops when things grind their gears.

You spew some insults yourself in your posting by calling people uneducated and having no common sense and jealous of something.

I think I feel threatened by your comment since I am not as educated as you, I am jealous of alot of people who have better lives than myself and the fact I have been told I am book smart but have no common sense. Shall I call the GBI and DHS since I feel this way? Just saying.

That remark threatened nothing. Saying "I hope" is NOT a threat. If there are any sane voices at the BCSO or the GBI, they told Yearwood to put his big boy pants on. The voters were so anxious rid themselves of Garrison that Yearwood was not properly vetted. Now Barrow is stuck with a thin-skinned tyrant.

There is a song out, "I"ll Pray for You" sounds Christian but its not, he's breaking up with his girl and prays that her brakes fail going down a hill, a plant falls off a window sill and hits he on her head, etc,etc. This and the blog is symptomatic of what is happening in this country. Diversity has brought us nothing but decisiveness, all sense of caring for each other is being lost by too many people.
Far too long politicians have held the attitude it's not what the people want and need this is what we are going to do. There are people out there that are not going to take it any more. I'm retired and spend time reading the news and the comments regarding various articles. Maybe politicians should do the same, because its getting scary in the real world.

Great. Another wild goose chase. I wish Mr. Yearwood was as concerned about finding a way to get our county fixed as he is about what someone said about him on a vent. But hey, if there is any merit to his investigstion, we'll be able to pay for it with the cuts he made and taxes he raised. I am counting the days this nut has left in office.

So if I hope and pray you family is injured or worse you will just say o well.I happen to love and care about my family's well being. Although I am sure it's just some piece of winder trash hiding behind their computer it's still scary!!!

So I am assuming that the pregnant woman I saw at walmart smoking a cigarette and begging people for money to buy her son a book bag would be classy winder folk.I see those classy people all the time in winder sorry to offend you:)

We all say things we dont mean when we get mad or upset and this be the case all of us break the law and even the cops and the GBI break the law as well if this be the case!!! We are all human we make mistakes. To me that was not a threat it was a what if situation which could happen to any of us anytime anywhere.. And calling alot of folks trash without even knowing them you need to be ashamed of yourself! You know its funny on 9/11 we all came together but it seems like everyone has grown apart and no body cares, yes I no the ecnomy is bad, but still why does it have to take something like 9/11 to bring us together we live in America where we have the right to free speech.... God help us all if we pass judgment on something that was not a threat....

Cant we all just get along. this sounds simply like a person frustrated with danny and we all know he doesnt satisfy the people however this does not constitute involving the GBI...cant local law enforcement handle this ??
just my thoughts on a waste of tax payer dollars
Kevin Lee
Co Founder "Citizens of Barrow County for Change"

Local law enforcement certainly can handle this, however, local law enforcement shouldn't touch this complaint with a 10 foot pool. If they find it's a silly, frivilous complaint, Yearwood will whine and cry that that it was a conspiracy to cover it up. Using an outside agency to look into this complaint makes the most sense from any angle you look at it. The GBI is the perfect agency to look into it. I certainly agree its a waste of money and manpower, given what the reported complaint is.

I agree with Mr. Lee. Let the local police department handle this situation. A good thing happened this week when the commissioners united and voted on a budget. Yearwood didn't get his way....so move on and let Barrow County have unity. We deserve better!

Danny is an idiot. The only way his house is going to burn down is if he is playing with fire... literally.

After all, everything else he has ever put his feeble and inadequate mind to have burnt to the ground figuratively… including his failure as a politician.

I once saw a T-shirt with a picture of a cartoon chimp holding a lit stick of dynamite in one arm. The other arm was bandaged and was missing the hand, but he was using the stump of an arm to hold his ear shut. The caption read:

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